Thursday, January 25, 2007

Battlestar Galactica’s jump to Sundays wasn’t all that smooth from a ratings standpoint.

The first of 10 episodes from the popular Sci Fi Channel series’ third season debuted Jan. 21 to a lukewarm 1.4 household rating/1.8 million viewers, according to an ABC Cable Networks Group analysis of Nielsen Media Research data.

That’s below the 1.9 rating/2.1 million viewers the show averaged during the second half of its sophomore season from January-March 2006, when it aired on Friday nights, along with lead-in series Stargate Atlantis and Stargate SG-1.

The first 10 episodes of the series’ third season averaged a 1.4 rating Friday nights without the strong lead-in from the two Stargate series. Battlestar’s current lead-in -- freshman supernatural crime dramedy The Dresden Files -- also drew a 1.4 rating.

Battlestar and Dresden faced stiff competition Sunday, particularly from CBS’ Indianapolis Colts-New England Patriots National Football League American Football Conference championship game, which drew 46.7 million viewers -- the best performance for the pigskin playoff game in 20 years.

But, here's the good news:

Despite the ratings falloff, the network said Battlestar was the No. 1 basic-cable entertainment program for the day among viewers 18-49 and 25-54. It also increased its viewership among those two demos by 60% and 18%, respectively, compared with its Dec. 15 finale.

In addition, Battlestar and Dresden Files combined were the top-rated shows in cable Sunday from 9 p.m.-11 p.m. among the network’s target 18-49 demo with a 1.3 household average. It was Sci Fi’s best performance among the 18-49 demo in the time period since May 2005 (Jurassic Park).